(i) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a fixing member for fixing an object to a plate and a clamp with the fixing member.
(ii) Description of the Related Art
Fixing members having a variety of structures have been used for fixing synthetic resin components such as a clamp or a spacer to a plate such as a printed circuit board or a housing panel. For example, Publication of Japanese Examined Utility Model Application No. 1-26140 discloses a clamp, provided with one of these fixing members at each end, for holding two plates in parallel with each other by affixing the fixing member at each end thereof to the plate.
However, the fixing member provided for the clamp disclosed in the above mentioned Publication involves the following problems:
Firstly, although the fixing member can be attached to the plate by simply inserting the same into an attachment hole from the front side of the plate, it cannot be detached so easily. Specifically, to detach the fixing member from the plate, it is necessary to reach around to the reverse side of the plate and elastically deform an elastic stopper. In short, it is impossible to detach the fixing member from the plate only from the front side of the plate.
Accordingly, if there is not a sufficient space for a hand to be inserted around the reverse side of plate, the plate itself must be removed to detach the fixing member therefrom. This leads to a disadvantage that, for example, when the fixing member is to be separately disposed at the time of discarding a product or the fixing member is to be reused, detachment of the fixing member presents a substantial amount of trouble.
Secondly, the above fixing member projects to a substantial extent on the reverse side of the plate, and therefore cannot be employed in compact, thin electronic equipment, for example, where it is difficult to provide enough space on the reverse side of the plate.